Ben Bishop stopped all 19 shots he faced for the shutout at the beginning of what we might title the 2014 Ben Bishop Shove it Up the Tailpipe of USA Hockey Management Tour. Mind you, he only had to make a couple of good stops all night despite the Lightning spending half of the game on the PK because Calgary is a talentless dumpster fire right now. None the less, enjoy, Brian Burke!

Wow Calgary stinks. Buffalo has the excuse of being young. Edmonton has the excuse of being young and undisciplined from a structure standpoint. Calgary just flat out doesn't have enough talent to compete in this league. Karri Ramo had to stand on his head just to make the night look respectable. The Lightning could have won this game by 8 goals were it not for Ramo, and that's even with taking most of the Third Period off and taking a bunch of penalties. If Bishop faced even a half dozen quality scoring chances in the entire game I'd be shocked. Through the first 4 or so Calgary PP's they only managed 1 shot on goal. I don't know what you take away from tonight's game because it's like a top-10 FBS school playing a FCS team that showed up for a paycheck. The Lightning handled their business in workmanlike fashion and we move on.

At the exact midpoint of the season, the Lightning have 54 points. That puts them on a pace for a 108 point season despite the absence of Steven Stamkos for a large stretch of the season thus far. That's nothing but impressive. The team has clinched no worse than a .500 record on this 4-game road trip and will take the show to Edmonton next.

Radko Gudas had 4 penalty minutes and 1 blocked shot in 17:46. The Lightning might've paid for the penalties against a true NHL-caliber opponent, but Calgary stinks.

Mark Barberio had a helper and was +2 with 2 shots in 10:10. A game as tilted in the Lightning's favor as this one was, from a possession standpoint, automatically favors the strengths in Barberio's game.

Tyler Johnson was +1 with 3 shots and 1 blocked shot in 20:26 and he was 35% on draws. He caught a post 15 seconds into the game.

Palat had 1 goal and 1 assist and was +2 with 1 shot, 3 hits, and 2 blocked shots in 18:57. He whistled a wrist shot from the slot past Ramo's glove for the first goal of the game and whistled a sharp pass backdoor to Kucherov for the tap in for the insurance marker. On a team with a group of high quality rookies, it says something that Palat might be the best of the bunch halfway through the season.

J.P. Cote had 1 hit and 3 blocked shots in 9:43.

J.T. Brown had 1 shot and 2 blocked shots in 14:12. He also caught a post on a turnaround shot in the First Period.

Richard Panik played 9:00. He had one noticeable shift in the Third Period where he set up a play for Thompson off the rush and then drove the net to set a screen and later got a shot from the slot that was blocked.

Nikita Kucherov got the insurance goal and was +1 with 3 shots and 1 hit in 10:08. He also had the near-obligatory breakaway that he failed to score on, which is a feature of nearly every game Kucherov has played in the NHL thus far.

Tonight is the 41st NHL game of the season for Johnson, Palat, and Killorn, so they officially graduate from prospect status on Bolt Prospects. Congratulations to all three. They join Bishop, who technically graduated from overage prospect status in his win over Buffalo on October 8th in a 2013-2014 Bolt Prospects Alumni class which may well grow by another 3 members by the end of the month of January.

Ben Bishop allowed 2 goals on 30 shots for the victory. He was a little iffy on his puck handling tonight, but otherwise had a workmanlike evening in a game where the Lightning didn't force him to have to stand on his head to get the W.

Valterri Filppula and Tyler Johnson were the game's first and second stars.

I would like to think this effort tonight will raise some eyebrows around the NHL. True, Vancouver was without the injured Roberto Luongo, but the Lightning pretty well carried this game from start to finish. They jumped on Vancouver, which appeared unprepared for the Lightning's speed and system, early on, handled what little bit of a surge the Canucks could muster, and eventually cruised through the Third Period to the 4-2 win. Even better, the Lightning's puck movement on the PP was excellent tonight, eventually resulting in the game winning goal by Kucherov.

The Lightning closed out the 4th 10 game segment of the season with 15 points, earning 3 insurance points and giving them 4 total insurance points for the season. Those points may become valuable given how many road games the Lightning will be playing in January.

Tonight's game also put three prospects (Johnson, Killorn, and Palat) one game away from graduating from prospect status here on Bolt Prospects. The trio should cross the finish line Friday against Calgary.

Radko Gudas had a helper and was -1 with 1 shot in 20:19. He had a mistake on the Dalpe goal but got it back assisting on Kucherov's game winner.

Mark Barberio had a helper and 1 shot and 1 blocked shot in 10:11. He got caught stepping up into no-man's land in the neutral zone on Richardson's goal.

Johnson had a goal and was +1 with 3 shots and 1 hit in 20:14. He was also 24% on draws. Vancouver was legitimately unprepared for Tyler Johnson's speed tonight, which resulted in his 2-on-1 tap in goal, a penalty he took on a near breakaway, and a few other dangerous rushes.

Alex Killorn had 1 goal and 1 assist and was +2 with 3 shots, 1 hit, and 1 blocked shot in 17:44. He got his helper leading a nice rush and setting a screen in front driving the net and he got his goal off a deflection. He's just a good complimentary scoring line winger. That's his role and he does it well.

Ondrej Palat had a helper and was +1 with 4 shots and 1 blocked shot in 17:56. He made a nice pass to Johnson for the tap in goal and just flubbed a chance early on for a 1-timer point blank in the slot.

Turnovers and poor luck doom the Lightning in their last game of 2013.

NYR- 4
TB- 3

Anders Lindback allowed 4 goals on 29 shots for the loss. It was one of those Lindback games where he wasn't the reason the Lightning lost, but he couldn't make the 1-2 key saves to be the reason they won.

The effort for the Lightning tonight was very good. They had good speed and the passing was better in 2 of 3 zones than against Montreal. However, they really struggled getting out of their own end with turnovers and they had some bad breaks between pucks bouncing in off d-men and unlucky penalties with sticks breaking off a faceoff. Outshooting New York 40-29 they probably deserved better, and looking back at this weekend they may regret only getting 1 point out of these 2 games with so many road games coming up.

Radko Gudas had a helper, 2 shots, 3 hits, and 2 blocked shots in 21:03. He had a rough night. His turnover led to the first Rangers goal. He had the second bounce in off his skate. Then on the third goal he got caught flat footed for Kreider's breakaway. He'll want to burn that game tape.

Mark Barberio was +1 with 2 shots, 1 hit, and 1 blocked shot in 13:58. He was relatively mistake free in a game where everyone else played like a dumpster fire with the puck in their own third. Go figure.

Tyler Johnson had a goal and was +1 with 4 shots and 1 blocked shot in 20:43 and he was 53% on draws. New York had no answers for his line's speed.

Alex Killorn had 4 shots and 2 hits in 18:04. His line did well generating a lot of greasy goal opportunities in tight but couldn't cash.

Ondrej Palat had the quick release rebound goal and was +1 with 4 shots in 19:29. Again, that line was all over the Rangers like fire ants tonight.

J.P. Cote had a helper and was +1 with 2 penalty minutes 1 shot, 4 hits, and 2 blocked shots in 11:37. I thought he was absolutely hosed on the high sticking call that resulted in the GWG. To my eyes, they basically called J.P. For hitting someone too hard (but cleanly).

J.T. Brown had 1 shot, 2 hits, and 1 blocked shot in 14:45. He made one sweet play off the rush that nearly resulted in beating a d-man one on one for a goal, but all in all his line was off tonight.

Dmitry Korobov had a helper, his first NHL point, 2 penalty minutes and 1 hit in 10:35. His foot speed has really showed up as a liability in the 2 games this weekend.

Nikita Kucherov played 16:19. It was perhaps his first really ineffective game offensively as an NHLer.

Andrej Sustr had 1 shot and 2 blocked shots in 16:42. He was credited with 1 giveaway. It felt like there were more. I thought it was his poorest game at breakout passing this season.

Richard Panik had 2 shots and 1 blocked shot in 7:27. He and Pyatt looked strong on the puck early, but played sparingly after a couple of defensive zone turnovers.

It was a hangover from the holiday break, plain and simple. The team's legs were there but the timing/passing weren't. It was an awful showing for the first 30 minutes before the timing started coming back and they nearly stole 2 points with goaltending and some luck (posts). As it is, they stole an insurance point and move on to the Rangers tomorrow night.

Radko Gudas was +1 with 2 penalty minutes, 2 shots, 6 hits, and 1 blocked shot in 23:00. Gudas played huge minutes with both Salo and Brewer out. The D did hold Montreal to 21 shots although their chances were higher than that reflects.

Mark Barberio had 1 shot in 13:27. Dangerous in the O zone. Dangerous in the D zone.

Alex Killorn was -1 with 2 shots and 1 hit in 16:01. His timing was clearly off early scuffing some good chances and he was on the wrong side of Plekanec driving the net on Montreal's goal.

Palat had a helper and was +1 with 3 shots, 1 hit, and 1 blocked shot. With all due respect to the SunSports crew that called Palat's star selection a surprise: you're blind. Palat was everywhere. 3 brilliant cross ice feeds for chances. Drawing 2 penalties. Sweeping a potential goal out of danger. Backchecking to defuse at least a couple other chances. Tonight the term "Ondrejpresent" was coined for good reason. He was a plus player for all 200 feet of the rink tonight.

J.P. Cote was -1 with 2 penalty minutes, 2 hits, and 2 blocked shots in 10:43. They clearly hid him against a superior skating Montreal team.

Dmitry Korobov had 3 hits in 8:08. His skating was exposed by Montreal creating a 2-on-1 and hemming the Lightning in a majority of the shifts Korobov was out.

Nikita Kucherov had 1 shot in 16:58. He had a partial breakaway where he drew a penalty that should've been a penalty shot and another breakaway where he lost control of the puck going in. If he converted half of the breakaway chances he's had he'd be sitting on 4-5 more goals.

Andrej Sustr had 1 shot, 2 hits, and 3 blocked shots in 18:05. I thought he played with a little more snarl as the game went on, realizing he can't keep up with Montreal's speed, so pin and seal with a little nasty.

Tonight was game 38, so we're fast approaching graduation from prospect status for several of these players. Not that I'm complaining, but there were 10 (10!) prospects in the lineup tonight. Amazing.

Ben Bishop allowed 1 goal on 29 shots for the victory. He got the 3 goal lead, made a flurry of key stops toward the end of the Second Period, and the team got to throw it in cruise control the rest of the way. That's how you show the killer instinct to dispose of an inferior team.

This was billed as a clash of two of the hottest teams of the Eastern Conference. The Panthers saw this as an opportunity to make a statement in the last game before the holiday break in front of their home fans (all 3 of them). They made a statement all right. After a fairly even First Period the Lightning started to take territorial control in the Second Period, got a greasy goal to take the lead and the Panthers reacted to the slightest bit of adversity by absolutely dissolving. Undisciplined, stupid play helped the Lightning get a 3 goal lead at the end of the period, and they rewarded the 2 fans they had that stuck around for the final frame by absolutely laying down in the Third Period. They quit. No effort. Nil. Nada. Lightning fans, if you ever get to feeling down on your team, take a look downstate at that dumpster fire in Sunrise. Be glad you don't have to root for that bunch of lazy, unprofessional quitters.

The Lightning check into the holiday break having already secured the minimum 12 points they want from this 4th 10-game segment of the season. They'll get 3 games after the break to close out the segment and to try to rack up insurance points that may come in handy in January and into February. It's a fantastic spot to be in and a tribute to the guys that their record without one of the game's best players (Stamkos) is nearly identical as what their record was with Stamkos to start the year.

The victory also gives the Lightning the inaugural Governor's Cup, which can be now used to collect Bill Lindsay's tears, that I might drink of their sweet, sweet goodness.

Radko Gudas was +1 with 2 shots, 4 hits, and 1 blocked shot in 23:33. With Brewer out and Salo going down in the First Period, Gudas got the big minutes tonight.

Mark Barberio was +3 in 13:46. Two of those plusses came in garbage time in the Third Period after the Panthers chose to lay down. Again, with regard to Barberio's plus/minus, he's living a charmed life this season.

Tyler Johnson had the GWG and was +2 with 3 shots. He was also 54% on draws. He missed a second goal on a 1-time by just a dash, as well.

Alex Killorn was +1 with 2 penalty minutes, 4 shots, and 1 hit in 16:05. Killorn's goal 19 seconds after Bergenheim's gift from Carle completely negated the Panthers' momentum and set the stage for the Lightning to beat up their inner children all Second Period long.

Ondrej Palat had a helper and was +2 with 2 penalty minutes and 1 hit in 14:48. His nice feed to St. Louis on the 1-timer was almost for naught as Marty flubbed the shot, but he got just enough to put it in and get Ondrej on the scoresheet.

J.P. Cote had a helper and was +1 with 2 shots and 3 hits in 16:16. That, what, 2 assists in 3 games? They gave him #22 and he's putting up numbers like Dan Boyle. He's played mistake-free the past couple of games and he's consistently given the Lightning another big open ice hitter to go along with Gudas. As such, you've seen his ice time continue to go up with over 16 minutes tonight.

J.T. Brown had 2 goals and was +2 with 6 shots in 16:41. The Third Period, garbage time, was the Kucherov and Brownov show, with Brownov being the recipient of some great playmaking from Kucherov.

Nikita Kucherov had 2 helpers and was +2 with 2 shots in 16:04. He set up Brown's first goal with a great rush and move around the net and the second goal with an easy tap-in off a feed on a 2-on-1. In fact, it looked like he was going to be credited with Brown's first goal, but the scorekeepers realized only Kucherov shots from the high slot should count as regulation goals.

Andrej Sustr was +1 in 16:20. I'll be honest, although he hasn't made any egregious mistakes, it feels like he may be starting to hit a bit of a rookie wall. He's a slightly built guy and he's playing against guys with a lot more foot speed and upper body strength than him, and he's having a slightly rougher time keeping up 1-on-1. This break might be coming at a good time for him to rest and relax before heading out west.

Ben Bishop allowed 2 goals on 27 shots for the OT win. I'm shocked Carolina even had 27 shots in this one. The game seemed totally slanted, especially during the first 30 minutes. Bishop could've read the paper, had a cup of coffee, smoked a cigarette, broke into Khabi's old stash of Pedialite, and still had time to shoot dice with Chief.

Victor Hedman was the game's second star. He has been outstanding since returning from injury. We're 36 games into the season and he's already set a career high with 7 goals. The Lightning are starting to look like they're in good hands with two young d-men like Hedman and Gudas with, hopefully, Koekkoek on the way. For the future, the picture was fuzzy a year ago, but it's looking a lot better right now.

The Lightning did an outstanding job of putting the work in tonight to deny Carolina the 2 points. Carolina played a classic road game getting a lot of timely saves from Peters and then cashing in on their few chances when they came. Against New Jersey, the Lightning fell into the trap of making mistakes trying to open up the offense even more to try to get goals back. Here, against Carolina, they just applied their system with more and more zest. They threw the kitchen sink at Peters, a nice one too. Like, a Toto or a Kohler. Not an American Standard. Vinik buys quality. And, they did it, for the most part, without compromising their defensive structure and eventually the pressure was just too much for the Canes to take.

And now, an aside about the Filppula one-timer goal that was waved off. Folks, the NHL needs to take a look at their replay rules. Right now there's a strict standard where a puck has to clearly be over the line to be counted a goal. However, some sort of allowance for common sense needs to be added to the criteria. Justin Peters gloved Filppula's shot and his glove was clearly inside the net when he did so. However, because the puck was concealed inside the glove, it could not be said in absolute terms whether the puck crossed. But folks, c'mon. If the puck's in the glove and the glove's over the goal line, you don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce the puck is also over the goal line. There was a similar play a few years back where Shanahan concealed a puck under his glove in a game against the Rangers where the goal was also disallowed because you couldn't conclusively say where the puck was under the glove, even though the glove was completely in the net (should've been a PS for a skater covering the puck with a glove in the crease at a minimum, but I digress). The chances of this sort of scenario happening in a Stanley Cup Finals game at a critical juncture are slim, but the chance should make the league sweat a little, and if they're smart they'll create some wiggle room for the Toronto war room on these calls. Mind you, Toronto doubled down on the stupidity by saying the video conclusively proved the puck didn't cross the line tonight (it didn't), but the league office's bias again Tampa Bay (which is real) is a different issue.

6 games into this 10-game segment of the season, the Lightning already have 10 of the minimum 12 points you want out of every 10-game segment. They have a real opportunity to packrat some points in these next 4 games that can help them get through January and into the time when Stamkos returns. This is a big bonus if the Lightning can capitalize on it.

Radko Gudas had the GWG, 4 penalty minutes, 5 shots, 5 hits, and 3 blocked shots in 22:34. He atoned for his mistake on Tlusty's shorthanded goal, where he just made a poor decision to try to cross the ice to hold a puck in leading to a clean breakaway for Tlusty. And, he atoned in classic Radko Gudas style: atomize Jeff Skinner along the boards in his own end to spring a 2-on-1 and then blast a slapper past Peters with extreme velocity. I'm risking committing hockey sacrilege with this statement, but there's something reminiscent of Scott Stevens in how Gudas can change games by physically taking out your best players and his ability to chip in offensively, too.

Tyler Johnson was -1 with 1 shot and he was 31% on draws in 19:08. It wasn't for lack of trying. His line, like every other line on the Lightning, was dangerous all night long.

Alex Killorn had a helper, 3 shots, and 1 hit in 18:00. His north-south game clicks well with Filppula's four-directional game. Very well.

Ondrej Palat was -1 with 3 shots and 2 hits in 16:59. He's so crafty, his secondary nickname (besides Dr. Drej) might need to be Martha Stewart. When he has the puck, working with Marty, it's a good thing.

J.P. Cote had 1 shot, 3 hits, and 1 blocked shot in 9:28. Two of his hits were of the bone-crunching variety and he had no boo boo's in this game that I detected. I'm a little squeamish about the trainers giving him Dan Boyle's #22, but all in all I'll take what the Lightning got out of him tonight. Hopefully they won't have to ask for too much more with Eric Brewer leaving tonight's game in the Second Period with an upper body injury after his arm got wrenched awkwardly.

J.T. Brown had 2 shots and 2 hits in 12:40. His work with Kucherov and Thompson is clicking right now, too.

Nikita Kucherov had 2 shots in 15:01. He gets a breakaway in pretty much every single game and he fails to complete it in every single game. I'm beginning to think he needs to stop and fire from his spot in the high slot. That's where all 3 of his goals have come from so far, after all.

Andrej Sustr had 2 shots and 1 blocked shot in 13:33. There were moments he seemed to have a hard time keeping up with the seemingly endless supply of Staals Carolina has, as well as Skinner, inside of the zone when they were really working his stop-starts hard. That said, he made arguably the biggest shot block of the Third Period to make sure the game got to OT for Gudas' heroics.

Richard Panik was -1 with 1 shot in 9:46. He had 1 or 2 decent shifts with Pyatt, who returned tonight off IR, but honestly the Lightning had 3 lines rolling so well the extra forwards were an afterthought.

The scoreboard and shots on goal say this game was a lot closer than what the eyeball test said. The Lightning dominated territorially throughout this contest and clearly had the bulk of the scoring chances. They had so many opportunities to get a 3 goal lead and turn this into a complete squash that they just couldn't quite cash in. In the future, as they mature, they'll refine their killer instinct and get that last goal they need to put teams away early. As it is, I'm just pleased they put that steaming pile they played for 56 minutes in Long Island behind them and showed a much higher quality effort tonight.

This game marked the halfway point of the 4th 10-game segment of the Lightning's season, and they already have 8 of the minimum 12 points you want in each segment. They've got a really good opportunity to not only hit their target for this segment but also, if they keep the hammer down, to rebuild some of the insurance points they lost in the last segment when they had to burn 3 of the 4 they had earned in the first 20 games of the year. If you're wondering, the Lightning have ~20 games to get through before Steven Stamkos' rumored target to return. So the goal needs to be to continue to stay on target through about 60 games of the season when, after some time to knock off the rust, you hope Stamkos can re-add about 1 goal a game to the offense when he comes back (statistically, that's about what his absence has meant). That could make a good Lightning team a great Lightning team if they can pull it out, because it's like adding a 50-goal scorer at the trade deadline for F-R-E-E!

Radko Gudas was -1 with 4 penalty minutes, 3 shots, 4 hits, and 2 blocked shots in 17:23. As expected, his ice time went down a bit with Hedman back in the lineup. He also had to deal with the frustration of having no star forwards to drive insane tonight because Nashville doesn't have one. Zing!

Tyler Johnson had 1 shot and was 44% on draws in 20:40. His line was crazy active tonight. They did everything but light the lamp offensively.

Killorn had 1 goal and 1 assist and was +2 with 5 shots in 17:56. We can officially declare any slump he was in to be deceased, because he could've easily had another goal and he was nice and active all night long. You could see it coming once he switched back to wing. This is obviously the role he's comfortable in.

Ondrej Palat had 2 shots and 2 hits in 21:37. He's a crafty one, that Ondrej Palat. He'll take your wallet, keys, and your girl if you're not looking. He's sneaky good with and without the puck.

J.T. Brown was -1 with 1 shot and 1 hit in 12:33. He shows good chemistry with old Syracuse linemate Kucherov from time to time.

Nikita Kucherov was +1 with 3 shots on goal in 11:36. He got stopped on a breakaway in this one and was dangerous throughout the game both shooting and passing the puck. His stickhandling skill puts a tremendous amount of pressure on defenders, and will benefit his linemates even more than Kucherov at this level because teams will break down defensively trying to stop Kucherov, which will free up space for other guys. There's two other guys, Drouin and Namestnikov, waiting in the wings who also have that ability. It'll be fun. Trust me.

J.P. Cote had his first NHL point - an assist - and 2 hits in 9:43. He's 31 years old and he got his first NHL point. Nice stuff. He looked pretty poised with the puck on breakouts. Very quick and crisp moving it. He got absolutely torched by Hornqvist on a 1-on-1 play in the First Period, though, and was used very sparingly thereafter. The coaches will be easing him in slowly.

Andrej Sustr had a helper and was +1 with 1 hit in 11:02. He's another guy who should see his ice time reduced a bit with Hedman back.

Richard Panik had a goal and was +2 with 4 shots, 1 hit, and 1 blocked shot in 9:09. He's about as complicated to read as Highlights Magazine. You can tell within the first couple of shifts every night if he's got it, usually, and tonight it was obvious early he was going to do something. He got one deflection goal and nearly had another and popped Hornqvist pretty good at the benches at center ice in the Third Period. Cooper had him on late with Nashville with the 6th attacker out because I think Cooper wanted to try to get Panik another goal to really get him rolling. If he can get back on track, that'd be a big bonus for the Lightning.

Ben Bishop allowed 2 goals on 34 shots and stopped 2 of 3 in the penalty shot session for the shootout victory. He made a handful of critical saves to keep the Lightning in the same area code, which ultimately made tonight's thievery possible.

So, yeah, that happened, and I can't stop laughing. The Lightning turned in one of their sloppiest efforts of the season and looked to be dead sunk with under 3 minutes to play down 2-0. They had been outworked half the game. They had been turning over pucks left and right. People were demanding I crucify people in the game write-up. Tar was being boiled and feathers were being plucked, bagged, and brought to the ready. Then Kyle Okposo, bless him, decided to hand a puck to Val Filppula in a prime scoring area to make the game 2-1 with under 3 minutes left, a ridiculous goalmouth scrum with the extra attacker led to the tying goal with under 4 seconds left, and Filppula and Kucherov finished off two nasty dekes in the shootout to steal the points. STEAL THE POINTS! I expected the Nassau County Sherrif's Department to show up at the Lightning bench after Bishop made the last save on Tavares to put the entire Lightning squad in irons and make the team do the collective perp walk all the way to the paddy wagon. Thievery. On nights like this, whoever on Long Island made that deal with the devil to get those 4 Cups has to be wondering was it really worth it to now have to watch an eternity of... this.

4 games into the 4th 10 game segment of the season, the Lightning somehow managed to get halfway to the minimum segment goal of 12 points. If they can pull out another win Thursday against Nashville, they'll be in really good position to meet (and probably exceed) their target for this stretch with Carolina and Florida coming up after that. Heck, after tonight, how can they lose? I'm still laughing at the result.

Radko Gudas was +1 with 2 penalty minutes, 5 shots, 5 hits, and 1 blocked shot in 23:07. Uncredited was a point shot rom Gudas that deflected off the post in the First Period. His hip check on Kyle Okposo, run to the end board with John Tavares, and otherwise snarly game was a page straight out of Dale Carnegie's classic, "How to Win Friends and Influence People," or Radko's own soon-to-be-published masterwork (I know because I'm ghost writing it), "Radko Gudas' Big Book of Making Friends and Influencing People". With Hedman out, Gudas has been matching up against the opposition's best players, and he's been hitting them and harming them on a nightly basis. At this point, I wonder if they might be just as happy to see Hedman possibly coming back Thursday as we are, if only to get a reprieve from the Wrath of Radko (which, coincidentally, is the working title of the film adaptation of "Radko Gudas' Big Book of Making Friends and Influencing People", for which I'm also getting credit as an Executive Producer).

Mark Barberio had 1 shot and 1 blocked shot in 10:55. You know a guy has had a really good game (and I mean that with the most burning sarcasm possible) when people submit requests for me to light the guy on fire verbally... in the Second Period. He was a turnover machine tonight (he wasn't the only one), and he also got caught at least once on a play that led directly to Ben Bishop having to fend off a breakaway. It continues to puzzle me how Barberio's +/- isn't the exact opposite of what it currently is. Is it clean living? Is he secretly Irish? Who knows, but his d-play is almost as big an eyesore as that dump of an arena the Lightning had to play in tonight.

Tyler Johnson had 2 penalty minutes, 5 shots, 2 hits, and he was 44% on draws.

J.T. Brown had a helper and was +1 with 2 shots in 17:37. He got increased IT tonight and was in the middle of the glorious netmouth scrum that led to the tying goal. Points are starting to flow a little.

Matt Taormina was -1 with 1 shot and 1 blocked shot in 12:23. Taormina has one virtue (and only one) on defense: if you come down on him on the rush and try to make a move around him he will hit you and put you on your back (there's your carrot, get ready for the stick). Beyond that, he has next to no redeeming qualities that I can detect in his own third of the ice. He turns the puck over with the same magnanimous generosity as Barberio, which is why I'd expect to see him headed back to Syracuse if Hedman is healthy enough to go on Thursday against Nash-Vegas.

Nikita Kucherov was +1 with 1 shot and 1 hit in 19:32. His move in the shootout, eventually slipping the puck 5-hole on Nabokov, whether you call it a Datsyuk or a Forsberg... filthy. Nasty. Evil. Mean spirited. It's the kind of move that says to a goaltender, "You're bad. You should feel bad. You've been playing the goaltending position your entire life, and the best you could do was still look utterly weak and pathetic and now you're laying prostrate at my feet with the puck behind you and the red light on. And, partly because of that and partly because you look funny and your personality stinks, no one will ever love you." So. Not. Nice.

Andrej Sustr had 3 shots in 15:33. I tell you, if there's one guy who loves Barberio and Taormina, it has to be Sustr. He looks like Larry Robinson in his prime next to those two.

Richard Panik had 3 hits in 10:40. I long for the day he gets a batch of sticks from the manufacturers that doesn't have an awful first touch in every single blade.

Bishop and Tyler Johnson were the game's first and second stars. In many ways, this was a reversal of the game last night in New Jersey. The Lightning were very patient, got their key saves from Bishop, got their greasy goal, and ended up riding the snowball to a 3-0 win. That's good road hockey, to be certain.

Remember when, going into this season, everyone was saying Detroit was going to eat our lunch in this new division? The Lightning improve to 3-0-0 against Detroit so far this year.

Radko Gudas was +1 with 2 shots, 3 hits, and 1 blocked shot in 23:56. Add Johan Franzen to his list of victims. He hit Franzen and knocked him out of the game in the Second Period. Gudas doesn't care what your resume says you are, to him you're just another target. I think he really sets the tone for the rest of the youngsters on this team. He's not intimidated by the league, and they shouldn't be either.

Mark Barberio was +1 with 2 blocked shots in 9:23. His harrowing moment of the night was when he got stripped by Pavel Datsyuk trying to carry the puck out from behind his net in the Second Period. Like taking candy from a small child.

Johnson had a goal and was +2 with 4 penalty minutes, 3 shots, and he was 23% on draws. He forced the turnover that led to his goal and had his stick on the ice and was in proper position to be the beneficiary of it. Nice play. You make your own luck.

Alex Killorn had a goal and was +1 with 1 shot and 1 blocked shot in 16:33. He was awarded the empty netter when he was hooked on the shot attempt. Even if the call had not been made, Teddy Purcell knocked in the rebound off the end boards. Hopefully that opens the flood gates.

Ondrej Palat had a helper and was +1 with 2 penalty minutes, 1 shot, and 2 hits in 18:46. He made the pass that led to the key goal and had at least one amazing back checking play defensively.

J.T. Brown had the big insurance goal and was +1 with 2 shots, 2 hits, and 1 blocked shot in 13:41. Good things happen when you go to the net. Hopefully that opens the floodgates for J.T., too.

Anders Lindback allowed 3 goals on 19 shots for the loss. He absolutely deserved better. The goals he allowed were on a breakaway, a tap in from a horrible turnover behind his net, and a rebound after he denied an immortal, Jagr, 1-on-1. He also made multiple breakaway saves to keep the Lightning in the game before the dam finally gave way in the Third Period. I feel bad for him. The Lightning just refuse to give this young man any goal support. It's frustrating.

Tampa Bay outshot the Devils 33-19. It didn't matter. This was a prototypical Devils win and they've been doing this to teams for years. They let Martin Brodeur hold them in games with key saves, wait for you to make a mistake, and then let you press and make more mistakes that they subsequently capitalize on. The Lightning dominated the Devils at 5-on-5, for the most part. It was ultimately irrelevant. If you can't get a lead on these guys, you're in deep trouble. That's the way it's always been. If there's one thing I can say the Lightning need to improve upon, though, it's a ridiculously feckless power play that seemed to nullify any momentum the Lightning built up at even strength. It's really, really bad right now, and the Lightning coaching staff really needs to look at shuffling around their strategy with that unit, because they've been awful for almost the entire time since Stamkos was injured.

Radko Gudas was -1 with 4 shots, 1 hit, and 1 blocked shot in 25:14. He was unfortunate to be on the pairing that made the mistake that led to Brunner's breakaway goal and the game devolving into a typical Devils game. More concerning, he left the ice late in the Third Period with what appeared to be an upper body injury. Hopefully he's good to go tomorrow and moving forward.

Tyler Johnson was -1 with 1 shot, 2 blocked shots, and he was 31% on draws. It was another somewhat lackluster night for his line.

Alex Killorn was -1 in 19:49. He and his line were legitimately dangerous and he hit a post that would've staked the Lightning to the all-important 1-0 lead on New Jersey. He just couldn't finish it off.

J.T. Brown was -1 with 4 shots and 1 hit in 11:50. He had chances working well on a line with Kucherov, but he's just snake bitten as a finisher right now.

Matt Taormina had a clean sheet in 16:47. He looked pretty solid after getting the vote of confidence being made a top 6 d-man over Barberio for this game.

Nikita Kucherov was -1 with 3 shots in 12:30. I understand the fear of playing Kucherov in a game against a veteran team that plays the style of hockey New Jersey plays. But, Kucherov was the Lightning's most dynamic offensive player tonight. New Jersey struggled mightily to get the puck off Kucherov's stick, and from the moment he set Nate Thompson up for a good chance on his first shift in the First Period to the moment he absolutely dominated the Devils all over the ice en route to setting Brown up on a glorious chance in the Third Period, it was clear he was as dangerous a forward as the Lightning had. In games like these where the Lightning struggle offensively, I'm sorry, he's got to play more.

Andrej Sustr was -1 with 1 blocked shot in 17:27. He had one pretty bad turnover that I detected, but otherwise was quiet, which is good for a rookie d-man against New Jersey.